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      The Biological Clock: Age, Risk, and the Biopolitics of Reproductive Time

      Sex Roles
      Springer Science and Business Media LLC

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          Abstract

          The present article explores the social and subjective dimensions of the biological clock and its implications for reproductive time through a qualitative study based on 40 life story interviews of women from Santiago de Chile. Although the narrative of the biological clock has become a prevalent frame for addressing reproductive time in the context of late childbearing, age-related infertility, and the use of assisted reproductive technologies, few studies engage in an in-depth analysis of the biological clock—its boundaries, dynamics, and the particular ways in which it shapes women’s views and experiences of reproductive time. The present article aims to advance current knowledge on the intersection of time, reproduction, and biopolitics by arguing that the biological clock regulates reproductive time by shaping the boundaries and dynamics of female fertility through the clock. By determining reproductive time as quantitative, standardised, linear, and irreversible and by outlining the passing of time through pressure, risk, and burden, the biological clock determines when it is possible and desirable to have children and regulates reproduction, gender, and the female life course. These findings highlight the importance of critically addressing the narrative of the biological clock and its implications for women’s views and experiences of reproductive time.

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          Most cited references67

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          Basics of Qualitative Research : Techniques and Procedures for Developing Grounded Theory

          The Second Edition of this best-selling textbook continues to offer immensely practical advice and technical expertise that will aid researchers in analyzing and interpreting their collected data, and ultimately build theory from it. The authors provide a step-by-step guide to the research act. Full of definitions and illustrative examples, the book presents criteria for evaluating a study as well as responses to common questions posed by students of qualitative research.
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            The Politics of Life Itself

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              The Politics of Life Itself : Biomedicine, Power, and Subjectivity in the Twenty-First Century

              <p>For centuries, medicine aimed to treat abnormalities. But today normality itself is open to medical modification. Equipped with a new molecular understanding of bodies and minds, and new techniques for manipulating basic life processes at the level of molecules, cells, and genes, medicine now seeks to manage human vital processes. <i>The Politics of Life Itself</i> offers a much-needed examination of recent developments in the life sciences and biomedicine that have led to the widespread politicization of medicine, human life, and biotechnology.<br><br><br> Avoiding the hype of popular science and the pessimism of most social science, Nikolas Rose analyzes contemporary molecular biopolitics, examining developments in genomics, neuroscience, pharmacology, and psychopharmacology and the ways they have affected racial politics, crime control, and psychiatry. Rose analyzes the transformation of biomedicine from the practice of healing to the government of life; the new emphasis on treating disease susceptibilities rather than disease; the shift in our understanding of the patient; the emergence of new forms of medical activism; the rise of biocapital; and the mutations in biopower. He concludes that these developments have profound consequences for who we think we are, and who we want to be.</p>
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                Author and article information

                Contributors
                (View ORCID Profile)
                Journal
                Sex Roles
                Sex Roles
                Springer Science and Business Media LLC
                0360-0025
                1573-2762
                June 2021
                October 31 2020
                June 2021
                : 84
                : 11-12
                : 765-778
                Article
                10.1007/s11199-020-01198-y
                8b75da21-776c-4245-9537-4a124cbe1db5
                © 2021

                https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0

                https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0

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